Page 25 of All for the Beast

The band was popular, but not as popular as they had once been on Nova Aurora. Most of the people in attendance were older shifters who remembered them during their early days. It was easy for V to have access to them because of his noble lineage in the area.

He grew more impressed with Katy when she introduced herself to them and proposed a deal to have a few performances on the cruise liner. They were initially unsure, but Katy kept encouraging them with passes on the liner whenever they saw fit.

She was highly skilled and influential, and it wasn’t only because of her beauty. She charmed them, showing them positive reasons and ways that the agreement could benefit them in the twilight years of their careers.

Eventually, they shook hands on it, and Katy offered to buy them all a drink. The lead singer was an older man who directed his chin at V.

“Your lady has got quite the silver tongue,” he said, then gave V a wink.

V stifled a cringe, then looked away when Katy nearly caught it. He raised his glass to the band as Katy’s eyes lingered on him.

“She’s a wonderful businesswoman, that’s for sure.”

They clinked their glasses together, and they spent the rest of the night chatting, enjoying the free-flowing wine and the cool evening. But V couldn’t help but wonder what Katy thought their relationship was. Was she still satisfied with their relationship as professionals? Or was she slowly coming around to them becoming more than that? And what was that moment when she rested her hand on his leg?

V was afraid to bring anything up and risk putting her off. So he tried to drink her in that night, her beaming smile, her glowing eyes, the ranges of her bountiful body. All from a distance.

ELEVEN

KATY

Katy was adjusting to her time on the strange planet without realizing it. It took a few mornings of waking up to two blinding suns, noticing the shine of a salmon-shaded ocean and the reflection off the canary-yellow sand, to remember that she wasn’t on Earth anymore. It sometimes filled her with dread, thinking about how far away she was from everything and everyone she knew, but soon enough, it morphed into a thrill.

She had made her list of places she wanted to visit with V, and they had nearly checked all of them off. They had gone to the museum and visited multiple restaurants, and that day, they were going to visit the islands where the cruise was scheduled to dock.

Initially, V didn’t quite understand why exploring these islands was necessary. She explained to him on the phone the night before how the customers spent their days on land was a direct reflection of how they were going to behave once they returned to the vessel.

“Trust me on this one,” she had said, peeking through the shades in the evening. “You need to know if they are hyped up or exhausted, then act accordingly. It’s done so much for both me and the crew I used to run.”

She had been in manager mode when she spoke to him on the phone, walking about her room at the inn wearing only her underwear and a loose T-shirt. Katy had found the evenings to be cooler than the days, but she always liked a bit of cool air to tickle her toes.

It was only when V let out a gravelly sigh that her core started to tingle. She squeezed her thighs together, her hand slowly moving over her hips and the fabric of her underwear as he spoke.

“I trust you completely, sweetheart,” he said. “I defer to you always on these matters.”

Katy knew he wasn’t being sarcastic. He understood she was a consummate professional who believed in intense preparation and research. He respected her opinions, too, which all made him devastatingly sexy.

“Uh-huh,” she muttered.

She had moved her hand between her legs, teasing herself, imagining that it was his hand sitting there, ready to slide deep into her wet glory.

“So there are two ports we can visit tomorrow. One is for architectural and history buffs that is a bit less active, while the other is a lively city. Where would you like to start?”

His voice was so deep and a bit gravelly from exhaustion. It was like having a feather run all the way up her spine, teasing the most precious and sacred portions of her body.

The warmth of her pussy rose as she thought about him laying in bed, likely wearing nothing at all, and decided that it was no longer a good idea to go on. She ripped her hand away from her growing arousal and tried to distract herself by making a cup of decaf.

“Hmm, um, I don’t know,” she muttered. “What are you thinking?”

“Let’s try the place with the ruins first,” he said, sounding cheeky. “To save our energy, you know?”

When they got off the phone, Katy spent some time writing notes, distracting herself as usual. But her mind always drifted back to the image of V, the muscles she imagined beneath his clothing rippling in the mystical sun, taking her into his arms like some Harlequin romance novel.

She tried to sleep, but the thought of him was too palpable. She needed to take care of herself if she wanted to sleep and used the thought of V’s hand between her legs as inspiration.

Katy had a long and expressive orgasm that finally took her into slumber, but it did nothing to satiate her mounting attraction.

She met up with V on the pier an hour or two after sunrise. She’d eaten breakfast at the inn, trying to suppress her growing anxiety. She had spent so much time with the man that she thought she would have adjusted to his general handsomeness, but he had a pull about him that was making it increasingly difficult for her to focus on the job at hand.

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